Jim Clark

James Gardner "Jim" Clark (17 September 1922-4 June 2007) was the Sheriff of Dallas County, Alabama from 1955 to 1966, succeeding Jim Folsom and preceding Wilson Baker. He was known for his brutal opposition to the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965.

Biography
James Gardner Clark was born in Alabama in 1922, and he served in the US Air Force over the Aleutians during World War II. In 1955, his lifelong friend, Governor Jim Folsom, appointed Clark as his successor as Sheriff of Dallas County, and Clark was vocally opposed to racial integration. When a voting rights campaign began in Selma under Martin Luther King, Jr., Clark recruited a horseback posse of Ku Klux Klan members, using them as a mobile anti-civil rights force. Clark used brutal tactics during his attempts to stop the Selma to Montgomery marches, but his actions appeared on the news and led to many people sympathizing with the Civil Rights movement. After the success of the marches and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, Clark was defeated in the sheriff's office elections by Wilson Baker, who had the vote of the African-Americans. Calrk became a mobile home salesman after the war, and he was arrested for marijuana smuggling. Clark died in Elba, Alabama in 2007, unrepentant about his racist views.